Can I live with a sub $600 computer? How about sub $500? How about sub $400?
February 2005
We have several computers for the business and the kids have their own system. This has worked out well and it keeps the kids away from our stuff. We cycle thru our systems and the kids always have the slowest system. I recently moved their system to another part of our house and thought I could use their system to check my Email since we have separate log-ons. Well, let me tell you that when you go from a much faster computer to a slower computer it can make time stand still!
So my wife and I were talking about getting a laptop that we could use anywhere around the house. My 6 year old daughter over heard us talking about another computer and had to speak up. "I really need a new computer, because sometimes when I click on things I have to wait, and I really don't like to wait!" - this from a 6 year old!
After pricing some laptops and realizing that I was going to have to replace their system shortly anyway, I decided I would just replace their system with a newer model and be done with it. I wanted to keep it affordable since it would just be for the kids and our occasional use. I wanted to keep it around $500 and at a bare minimum it would have to have a 17" monitor and at least 512MB of RAM memory and I was looking for a front mounted memory card reader since they both had their own digital cameras. Let the shopping begin....
It may not be the best system for the money but I'm sure not going to complain. I found a Compaq Presario SR1215CL for $549. With the following:
17" crt monitor
AMD Sempron 3000+ processor
512MB RAM
CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive
120GB hard drive
9 in 1 memory card reader
USB 2.0 and FireWire jacks (front and rear)
It came loaded with Windows XP Home, Works 7.0 and Sonic RecordNow! software for the CD-RW and a bunch of trialware programs that I knew I would just be taking off anyway. Since this was a replacement computer I already had the computer desk, printer and a battery backup system in place.
The good and the bad - The good news is everything came in 1 box making setup very easy. I made sure everything worked and started removing the software I didn't need or want. This is where the bad shows up! I removed the trial version of Office 2003 and my Word Processor in Works stopped working. Brand new computer and already a problem! The error message said to try re-installing Works. The CD for Works came with the computer so I popped it in and re-installed Works but still the Word Processor would not work. I remove Works and reboot the computer and install Works again. Still the same error message! After wasting at least an hour, I found the solution, you have to remove the Works program and then you have to manually remove the Works directory and then install again. If removing trial versions of software, that are going to cause problems with the other preinstalled programs them then they SHOULD NOT even be included with the computer to begin with.
The rest of the setup process went very smooth and for such an affordable computer the performance wasn't bad. Now my kids are younger and are not into any heavy 3D action games. They have some educational programs and surf the Internet and are very happy with their new system. I set the computer with 2 log-ons and password protected mine. I can log-on, access my network and do my work and then turn it over to the kids without having to worry about them deleting or messing up any of my stuff.
I also plugged my digital camcorder into the front mounted FireWire port and was able to save my video to the hard drive. Now this system doesn't have a DVD recorder but I just wanted to see if it was fast enough to handle video. The kids can save their digital photos and burn their own CD's. For an out-of-the-box computer and low price this computer is definitely a winner.
Update - Officemax had a DVD recorder on sale for $39. Now the kids can record their own DVD's
Another Update - 512MB additional RAM memory (total now 1GB) $39.99
Another Update (Aug 2008) - It has been a bit over 3 years and the computer is still being used. I bought a 19" wide screen monitor and gave the kids my old 17" LCD monitor which worked out just fine but then I upgraded my monitor and passed the 19" wide screen down to my kids and found out that the built in graphics would not handle the needed resolution of 1440x900 so I just ran it at 1024x768 which distorted the picture a bit. I found a new 128MB AGP video card in my parts bin and added that without any problems and set the resolution to the proper settings of 1440x900. I also added a gigabit network card since I upgraded my home network to gigabit.
I had another computer go out on me, more or less my own fault, but I did not want to take the time to reload it all and I wanted some upgrades and thought it would be the perfect time to replace just the computer box. I was strictly going on price here and looking for cheap, but I wanted at least 512GB RAM, DVD burner, front memory card reader and USB ports along with a SATA hard drive controller. I found an Acer Aspire T135 that met my specs ($339.99). I went ahead and ordered the system from www.buy.com with FREE shipping on Monday morning and it arrived at my door that Friday morning.
I unpacked the system and took a look at what I had. It had 1 PC3200 512MB memory chip installed, onboard video along with an open AGP slot for a possible future upgrade, 2 open PCI slots, 4 USB ports on the back and 3 USB ports on the front with a card reader, 2 IDE channels and 2 SATA channels. Now this was a replacement tower and it must be noted that it DID NOT ship with a floppy drive, firewire ports or any speakers.
I also had a 512MB PC3200 memory chip in my parts bin and decided to add it for a total of 1GB RAM. I installed my additional PC3200 512MB memory chip and turned on the computer and got an error beep, removed the newly installed memory and it booted properly. Removed the original memory chip and installed my additional memory chip only and it booted fine. I left my chip in the front socket and the original chip in the back socket and it booted and recognized 1 GB of RAM memory. Not sure what that was all about but I have had systems where one chip likes to be in front of the other chip and we will just call it the "dominate chip syndrome" (Ha, it's a joke). Yes, I did run a complete memory test on the system just to make sure things would be fine down the road.
The computer does ship with System Restore CD's (which is very handy considering a lot of system don't). I went ahead and created a System Restore DVD using the supplied software for creating a factory default backup disk, budget about 20 minutes for the process. I removed the trial version of Norton Antivirus 2005 and replaced it with a freshly purchased 2006 version. I also ran Window Updates, installed JAVA update and installed Windows Defender (Free from Microsoft).
The Cost:
Acer Aspire T135 - $339.99
Shipping - FREE
Norton Anti-Virus 2006 - $31.97
512MB PC3200 memory - $42.79
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Total Cost - $414.75
More specs: Windows XP Home Edition SP2, AMD Sempron 3100+, 160GB SATA hard drive, DVD RW Dual, 9 in 1 card reader, Integrated video, audio & LAN, 56K modem, keyboard & mouse
What a difference a year makes! Windows Vista has been out since the beginning of the year and it was time to replace another tower computer. Note that this was just a tower replacement as above and I found an Acer system from www.buy.com once again with FREE shipping that I ordered on a Saturday and was delivered on Wednesday. For $388.99 this is what I got: Acer Aspire T180 Tower - Windows Vista® Home Premium; AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+ (512KB + 512KB L2 cache, 2.0GHz); 1GB (512/512) DDR2 SDRAM; 250GB SATA hard drive; DVD-Dual drive (DVD+/-RW); 9-in-1 card reader; integrated NVIDIA® GeForce® 6100 and NVIDIA® nForce® 430; gigabit LAN, V.92 modem
I unpack the system and heard a loose screw rattling around the system. I open the case and sure enough a screw had come loose from the motherboard. Not a huge issue but worth noting. The tower included a USB optical mouse, USB keyboard & a pair of cheap little speakers. Opening the case I find 4 memory slots (2 empty). 1 empty PCI, PCI Express x16 and 1 PCI Express x1 expansion slots. System also has a firewire port. Not a lot of trial/junk loaded on system as all I had to remove was 90 day trial version of Norton Internet Security and Yahoo Toolbar. A user could install some FREE software for a nice rounded system including OpenOffice and AVG Antivirus.
System did not include a restore disc so I had to use a blank DVD to create one. System does not include Works or WordPerfect but does include NTI CD & DVD Maker.
BestBuy had 1GB PC2-5300 for $42.99 (I got 2) and OfficeMax had Norton Antivirus 2007 on sale for $24.99 (plus I had an extra $10 off coupon).
The Cost:
Acer Aspire T180 - $388.99
Shipping - FREE
Norton AntiVirus 2007 - $16.04
2 each 1GB PC2-5300 - $92
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Total Cost - $497.03
September 2007 Update
XFX GeForce 7300GS 256MB DDR@ PCI Express x16 Video Card - $49.99
2 each 1 GB PC2-5300 - $69.94
(In order to move from 3GB to 4GB the original 512MB chips had to be replaced)
(see question #102 about 4GB of RAM and Vista)
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Total Cost now $616.96